Heel-making machine



April 22, 1941. s wo 2,238,988

April 22, 1941.

F. ASHWQRTH HEELMAKING MACHINE Filed March 22, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 22, 1941. s wo 2,238,988

HEEL-MAKING MACHINE Filed March 22, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 i A ril 22, 1941. F. ASHWORTH 2,238,988

HEEL-MAKING MACHINE Filed March 22, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 A ril 22, 1941. F. ASHWORTH 27,238,933

HEEL-MAKING MACHINE Filed March 22, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Apr. 22, 1941 HEEL-MAKING MACHINE Fred Ashworth, Wenham, Mass,

assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Borough of Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application March 22, 1939, Serial No. 263,453

8 Claims.

This invention relates to heel-making machines and is exemplified herein as embodied in a ma-, chine of the type employing heel assembling apparatus in which pasted lifts are assembled by; hand in a form where they are held under pres sure, applied by power, while heel building nails are driven through them, the pasted and nailed assembly of lifts then being transferred to a press clamp wherein the heel is held under pressure until the paste has set.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved machine of this type, the use of which will insure the production of accurate heels of high quality with a minimum requirement for skill and experience on the part of the operator.

With this in view, the illustrated machine embodies heel assembling apparatus and heel pressing apparatus comprising a series of clamps rotatively mounted beside the assembling apparatus, in combination with power means adapted to simultaneously operate the assembling apparatus, rotate the clamps and automatically open one of the clamps for the reception of a heel, together with operator controlled means for closing the opened clamp independently of the power operations. The assembling and pressing apparatus are preferably operated by a common drive shaft, the pressing apparatus comprising a series of spring closed heel clamps upon a carrier which is rotated step by step. A normally stationary cam is arranged to open the clamps automatically in succession as they reach a predetermined point in the movement of the carrier and a treadle connected to said cam permits the operator to move the cam suificiently to permit the open clamp to close upon a heel, which has been placed therein, while the carrier is stationary.

Another feature of the invention resides in a combined heel gage and ejector arranged to eject a finished heel from a clamp when the clamp is opened and then to retreat to a location in the clamp such that it can be used as a gage to facilitate the correct positioning of a new heel in the open clamp.

A further feature of the invention relates to an improved heel assembling form in which a plurality of heel engaging jaws which extend upward from a table constituting the bottom of the form are bodily depressible in response to downward pressure. This eliminates inaccuracies in lift alinement which are liable to occur with jaws designed to yield outward when the lifts are forcibly pressed down in the form, and retains the advantage that the edges of the lifts are not obiectionably marked by their pressure against the jaws. As illustrated, the jaws are pivotally suspended so that they may be swung transversely of the form in order to adjust the width of the form and the invention includes improved mechanism for effecting such adjustments, comprising pivoted guide arms engaging the lower portions of the jaws and operated by a right and left screw to effect equal and opposite adjustments of the jaws simultaneously to vary the Width of the '10 form.

These and other features of improvement will be better understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of an illustrative machine, to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a View in front elevation of a heelmaking machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view, partly in section and partly in side elevation, showing details of the heel-pressing mechanism on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line III-III of Fig. 4 showing further details of the heel-pressing mechanism;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View on the line IV-IV of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on the line V-V of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the heel form in which the heel lifts are assembled; and

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view on the line VII--VII of Fig. 6.

The heel assembling and pressing mechanism is mounted in a machine frame l0 having a base l2 and is driven by a suitable source of power connected to a main driving shaft l4. From the shaft M power is transmitted to the presser foot I 6 and the nail driver, or drivers, I 8 by which an assembled pile of heel lifts in a heel form F is placed under pressure and nailed together.

A sprocket 29, fixed upon the shaft I4, is connected by a drive chain 22 to a sprocket 24 secured to a worm shaft 26 upon which is fixed a worm 28. A worm gear 30 secured to a shaft 32 is permanently in mesh with the worm 28 and is driven thereby to rotate the said shaft. The shaft 32 is journaled in stationary bearings 34, 36 and has secured to it by a key 38 the hub 49 of a circular, rotatable carrier 42 (Fig. 4), upon which are mounted the attaching face engaging plates of twelve identical heel pressing clamps.

Journaled upon the hub 40 of the carrier 42, and coaxial therewith, is the hub 44 of a twelvearmed spider 4b, which carries the top-lift engaging plates of the said twelve clamps. Inasmuch as all of the clamps are identical, it will be sufficient to describe one of them in detail.

Referring to Figs. 2, 3 and 4, a stud 48 fixed in bosses 55, 52, formed on the carrier 42, constitutes a pivot for a lever having three arms 54, 56 and 68. The arm 54 carries an angularly adjustable hee1-attaching face-engaging base plate 5i! and the arm 55 engages the outer end of a heavy compression spring 62, the inner end of which is seated upon a fiat surface 64 formed upon the hub 40 and is held against lateral displacement by a plug 66 set in said hub. The spring 62 supplies all the clamping pressure which is applied to the heel.

The outer end of the lever arm 68 carries 'a cam roll Ill which cooperates with a cam I2, which has a hub 74 journaled for free rotary movement upon the shaft 32. The cam I2 is normally stationary but is arranged to have a limited amount of rotary movement imparted to it by the operator when desired. To this end a lug I6 projecting radially from the hub I4 is connected by a treadle rod "I5 to a treadle 8B, which is pivoted at 82- in the machine frame. A pull spring 84, the lower end of which is connected to the treadle and the upper end of which is secured upon a pin 85 fixed in the bearing 36, tends constantly to lift the treadle and turn the cam I2 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2. The limit of clockwise movement of the cam is adjustably determined by a screw 38 threaded through a lug 9D projecting radially from the cam hub I4 and engaging a stationary stop 52 formed upon the machine frame.

Most of the periphery of the cam '52 is concentric with the shaft 32..and the radius of this concentric portion of the cam is sufliciently short so that when a heel is held under pressure in one of the clamps, the cam roll it) belonging to that clamp will not engage the concentric portion .of the cam. A high portion is provided, however, upon the cam to engage the cam roll I6 and open the clamp to release the pressed heel at a certain stage in the rotation of the clamp carrier. This high portion is provided by a suitably shaped plate 94, which is permanently secured to the cam '52. When the cam roll ID reaches the highest portion of the plate 94, the spring 52 will have been compressed sufficiently to open the clamp far enough to permit the pressed heel to be removed therefrom; This occurs when the cam roll II! has reached a point near the upper end of the plate 94, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.

After a pressed heel has been removed from i the clamp and a fresh heel inserted, it is desired to clamp the new heel before the press starts to rotate and this may be done by depressing the treadle 80, which will cause the cam to be rotated in a counterclockwise direction (as viewed in Fig. 2) a sufficient distance to permit the cam roll It to drop off the upper end of the plate. 94, allowing the spring 62 to exert its force upon the heel.

Inasmuch as the spring 62 is very stiff, it is desirable to cushion the shock which would occur when it falls oil the end of the plate 94. For this purpose there is provided a buffer plate 96 movable about a fixed pivot 98 supported in a stationary bracket It'll), which is secured by bolts I52 to the bearing 36. Aflixed to the buffer plate 96 and movable therewith about the pivot 98 is an arm I04, to the upper end of which is pivoted .a rod I66 which passes loosely through a guide sleeve Hi8, adjustably mounted in the bracket H39, and is surrounded by a compression spring Iifl, one end of which bears against the inner end of the sleeve I88. The tension of this spring may be varied by adjustment of the sleeve in the bracket HIE.

When the cam i2 is rotated sufficiently to permit the cam roll iii to fall oil the upper end of the plate 94, the cam roll is in engagement with a surface upon the buffer plate 36, which is a continuation of the cam surface of the plate 94, but the pressure exerted by the stiff spring t2 will cause the plate 96 to be swung toward the right, as viewed in Fig. 2, and the shock will be absorbed by the spring IIii.

A top-lift engaging plate l I2, which cooperates with the base plate 5G to form a clamp, is pivoted upon a trunnion II4 fixed in the spider 46 and has an inwardly extending arm I I5 which engages in a notch H8 in the carrier 42, there being twelve such notches in the carrier, one for each clamp. It will be apparent that a rotary relative adjustment of the spider 4t and the carrier 42 about their common axis will effect an accurate simultaneous adjustment of all of the clamp plates II2, the purpose of which adjustment is to provide for heels of different heights. Provision for making such adjustments is illustrated in Figs. 3,-4 and 5. 'Two screws I26 and I22 are threaded through the hub 45 of the spider member 45, and their points bear upon blocks I24 and E26 seated in recesses in the hub 48 of the carrier 42. By unscrewing one of these screws and screwing in the other the desired relative rotary adjustment of the spider and the carrier in either direction is efiected, and the respective parts are held rigidly in their adjusted relation to each other.

For the purpose of providing a gage to facilitate the correct positioning of a heel in the clamp and to eject a finished heel quickly from the clamp when the clamping pressure has been released, the following mechanism is employed. A pair of arms I23, the lower ends of which are rigidly connected by a crossbar I38, are pivoted at their upper ends upon studs I3I and I33 projecting inward from brackets I34 and I35 secured upon the ends of the trunnion lid of one clamp, the bar I30 swinging over the plate IE2 of the adjacent clamp. A bracket 36 extending outward from one of the arms I28 carries a cam roll I33, which is arranged to engage a cam plate I42] adjustably secured by a bolt I42 to a rocker arm I44, which is movable around a stationary pivot I45 mounted in the bracket I89. The arm I44 has a lug M8 which bears against an adjustable, spring-pressed plunger I50 mounted in the outer end of the bracket wt and has also a depending arm I52 connectedby a pull spring I54 to a stationary ear I515 upon the bracket I30. A torsion spring I58 surrounding a pin I32 secured in the member H2 by a set screw I3? bears upon a cross web 239 which connects the upper portions of the arms I28 and tends to swing the arms inward and hold the crossbar I at the inner end of the clamp, but when the roll 53B engages the cam Hit, the crossbar I is moved into engagement with the breast of the clamped heel and held there while the arm I44 is moved inward against the tension of the spring I54 until the clamping plate is raised by the cam plate 94, releasing the heel and permitting the spring I 54 to contract and cause the heel to be quickly ejected from the clamp by the crossbar I30.

As, the clamp carrier continues to move in the direction of the arrow (Figs. 2 and 3) the cam roll I30 passes off the upper end of the cam plate I40 and engages a cam plate I60 which is affixed to the upper end of one arm I62 of a bell-crank lever which is movable about a fixed pivot IE4 mounted in the bracket I00. This bellcrank lever has a second arm I66 which is acted upon by a pull spring I68 fastened to a stationary pin I10 mounted in the bracket I00. The pulling force exerted by thespring I68 upon the arm IEO holds a lug I'I2, which projects from the side of the. arm I82, in engagement with a stopscrew I'M which is threaded through a stationary lug projecting upward from the bracket I 00. Adjustment of the stop screw II4 will produce a corresponding adjustment of the position of the cam I60 and, consequently, of the position assumed by the cam roll I38, which determines the position of the crossbar I30 in the open clamp. This crossbar I 30 is utilized as a breast gage for facilitating the positioning of a fresh heel in the open clamp.

The form in which the heel lifts are assembled, ready to be pressed, is illustrated in Figs. 1, 6 and 7 and comprises a table I80 which is supported upon the machine frame I2. A breast gage I82, against which the breast edges of the lifts are alined, arises from a base plate I84 having a slot I05 through which passes a bolt I88 by which the gage is adjustably secured upon' the table I80.

Inclined side jaws I90 are pivotally mounted at I92 in the inner ends of horizontal rods I04 which are held in split clamping sleeves I96 provided with screws I98 by means of which they can be tightened upon the rods I94. Each sleeve I96 is pivoted at 200 in the upper end of an upright slide 202 which may be adjusted vertically in a guide 204 in which the slide may be clamped in adjusted position by a clamping bolt 206. The guide 204 is secured to the table I80 by screws 208.

The bars I94 and the side jaws I90 are sustained by spring-pressed plungers 2I which bear against the under sides of the clamping sleeves Hit and permit the jaws to be depressed into spaces in the table I80 if downward pressure is applied to them. The upper ends of the slides 202 are formed to cooperate with the pivoted clamping sleeves as shown at 2I2 to prevent the plungers 2I0 from lifting the bars I94 above a horizontal position.

The outer sides of the lower portions of the jaws I 90 bear against surfaces formed at the front portions of guide arms 2I4 which are pivoted at 2H3 for horizontal swinging adjustment upon the surface of the table I80. The rear ends of the guide arms 2I4 carry swiveled nuts 2I8, engaged by a right and left screw 220 upon which is fixed a collar 222 which engages a notch 224 in the table I80. It will be apparent that turning the screw 220 will effect equal and opposite adjustment of the lower ends of the guides 25 4 and, consequently, of the jaws I99, to vary the width of the form.

Two rear form jaws 226, similar to the jaws I90, are pivoted at 228 in bars 230 which are mounted in the same manner as are the bars I94. The lower portions of the jaws 226 engage the edges 232 of a forked guide member 234 in the same manner that the lower portions of the jaws I30 engage the guide arms 2I4. The guide member 234 is slotted at 235 to provide for adjustment longitudinally of the heel form and is held down upon the table I by a bolt 238 passing through the slot and screwed into the table.

After the lifts are assembled in the form, pressure is applied in the usual manner by the power-operated presser foot I6 and one or more heel-building nails is, or are, driven by the nail driver, or drivers, I8, the power for performing these operations being derived from the main driving shaft I4 which is driven through a clutch or the like controlled by a starting lever 248.

In the operation of the machine the pasted lifts are assembled manually in the heel assembling form F and the starting lever 240 is actuated, with the result that the drive shaft I4 makes one complete revolution during which the presser foot I6 applies pressure to the lifts and the nail driver or drivers I8 drives, or drive, one

or more heel-building nails through the lifts.

While this is occurring, the shaft 32 is rotated of a revolution, causing a clamp containing a finished heel to be opened by the cam I2 and the heel to be ejected by the bar I30 which is then retracted to gaging position as illustrated in the open clamp in Fig. 2.

The built-up'heel which is removed from the form F is placed in this open clamp against the gage bar I30 and the treadle 80 is depressed by the operator, rotating the cam I2 sufficiently to allow the cam roll I0 of the open clamp to pass off the high portion of the cam so that the clamp may be closed upon the heel by the spring 62.

As each heel in the pressing apparatus proceeds around the circuit, it is held uninterruptedly under pressure by the spring 62 during the time required to build eleven succeeding heels which is sufficient to permit the paste to set so that the lifts will adhere permanently to each other.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A heel-making machine comprising, in combination, heel-assembling apparatus, heel pressing apparatus comprising a series of clamps rotatively mounted beside the assembling apparatus, means adapted to simultaneously operate the assembling apparatus, rotate the clamps and automatically open one of said clamps, and operatorcontrolled means for closing the opened clamp independently of the other operations.

2. A heel-making machine comprising, in combination, heel-assembling apparatus, heel-pressing apparatus comprising a series of clamps rotatively mounted beside the assembling apparatus, a common drive shaft for operating the assembling apparatus and rotating the series of clamps, means for automatically opening one clamp, while the series of clamps is rotating, each time the assembling apparatus is operated, and operatorcontrolled means for closing the opened clamp while the series of clamps is stationary.

3. In a heel-making machine, the combination of a rotary carrier, means for rotating the carrier step by step a fraction of a revolution at a time, a series of normally closed heel clamps spaced apart upon the carrier, by distances equal to each step of movement of the carrier, means for automatically opening each clamp when it reaches a predetermined point in the movement of the carrier, and manual means operative to close the open clamp while the carrier is stationary.

4. In a heel-making machine, the combination of a rotary carrier, means for rotating the carrier step by step a fraction of a revolution at a time, a series of normally closed heel clamps spaced apart upon the carrier by distances equal to each tionary cam constructed and arranged to automatically open each clamp when it reaches a predetermined point in the movement of the carrier, and manual means'for moving said cam sufiicie-ntly to permit the open clamp to close while the carrier is stationary.

5. In a heel-making machine, the combination of a rotatively mounted series of spring closed heel clamps, means for rotating said series of clamps step by step, a normally stationary cam constructed and arranged to automatically open each clamp when it reaches a predetermined point, means for moving the cam sufiiciently to permit the clamp to close suddenly while said series of clamps is stationary, and a buiTer adapted to cooperate with said clamp to absorb the shock resulting from the sudden closing of the clamp.

6. In a heel machine, the combination of a circular rotary carrier, a series of clamp plates mounted thereon, a spider rotatable about the step of movement of the carrier, a normally staaxis of the carrier, a second series of clamp plates mounted on the spider in cooperative relation to the plates on the carrier to form a series of clamps, and means for effecting relative rotary movement of the carrier and spider about their common axis, whereby all of the clamps are simultaneously and equally adjusted to accommodate heels of the same height.

'7. In a heel machine, a heel form comprising a plurality of pivotally suspended heel-engaging jaws the lower ends of which are adapted to swing transversely of the form, guides engaging the lower portions of said jaws, and means for effecting simultaneously equal and opposite adjustment of the guides, to vary the width of the form.

8. In a heel machine, a heel form comprising a I plurality of pivotally suspended heel engaging jaws the lower ends of which are adaptedto swing transversely of the form, pivoted guide arms engaging the lower portions of said jaws, nuts mounted upon said guide arms, and a right and left screw engaging in said nuts, to effect equal and opposite adjustment of said guide arms and jaws, whereby the width of the form is varied.

FRED ASHWORTH. 

